Hell of a Woman
by Lena Liz Carter
Summary: Zugzwang AU. Maeve survives and starts a new life with Spencer. Everything seems perfect, they are a family now, until one day Spencer doesn't come home. A frantic race to identify his kidnapper begins, the team has to dig through old cases to find the unsub, and Maeve joins the battle, because this bastard chose to mess with the wrong woman's man.
1. Prologue

**This is a little something I came up with after watching Zugzwang. It helps me cope with the feelings. I am so sorry that we didn't get to see more of Maeve, because I know she would have been amazing. Expect a lot of fluff, some team love and teasing, a lot of drama.**

**And the motto of the whole story?**

"**She's gotta be one hell of a woman to keep up with you."**

* * *

_I don't know you, but I want you all the more for that. (Glen Hansard & Markéta Irglová, Falling Slowly)_

* * *

The whole world seemed to stop as Diane Turner put the gun to her own temple. Spencer's mind was racing, calculating angles, forces, velocity, and coming to one conclusion over and over again. _She is going to die._

But that day Spencer Reid made a mistake. There was one factor he did not consider – Maeve herself.

Just as Diane pulled the trigger, Maeve jerked her head backwards with all her power. Diane, being distracted, didn't expect this and even though she did shoot, the bullet only grazed Maeve's temple. Both women collapsed on the ground, but Spencer was there in a split of a second, untangling Maeve from the dead arms and holding her as close to him as possible.

"It's okay, it's over, it's fine, it's over, it's okay, she's dead, it's over," he whispered fervently, kissing her forehead after each sentence. Maeve was pressed against him, her whole body shaking and she was crying into his shoulder. On the left side of her face the tears mixed with blood.

"Don't cry," said Spencer when he noticed. "It's over."

"You're crying too," Maeve reminded him.

He realized she was right and he had no idea how to react. Luckily, he was saved by Hotch.

"Okay, you two, let's get you to a hospital," he said, offering Maeve a hand. She took it and Hotch helped her stand up.

They waited for the ambulance outside, huddled together, whispering incoherent things that under any other circumstances would make them blush, and only the arrival of the medics made them let the other one go. Still, they kept looking each other in the eyes, until a slightly annoyed woman told Maeve that she can't check her pupillary reflex if she keeps staring at the boy.

They were released just as the rest of the team exited the building and gathered around them.

"So this is the mystery girl," said Blake with a small smile.

"We were beginning to think that you were imaginary," Rossi added.

Maeve glanced at Spencer, then shrugged. "Sorry, but you saw why I couldn't meet any of you sooner."

"We're just glad you are fine," said Hotch. "That was close."

"By the way, Garcia says you two need to stop by her office ASAP," Morgan added.

"Slow down, please," Maeve managed a small smile. "Can I go home and get a good night's sleep first?"

Spencer didn't want her to leave. After all they have been through he couldn't bear to see her walk away. But maybe he didn't have to. "I think I should stay with you tonight. Just so you feel safer..."

Maeve visibly lit up at the suggestion. "You would do that? That would be great!"

They both stood up and stopped, realizing neither of them had their car. They exchanged a confused look and then burst into a fit of giggles.

"Hey, why don't I give the two of you a ride?" Morgan suggested.

Even though Maeve's apartment wasn't that far, it was a long ride for Derek Morgan. Both lovebirds sat in the back, so he didn't see anything, but the constant whispering could be incredibly annoying. Who knew that falling in love will turn Spencer Reid into a fifteen-year-old high school girl?

But when he watched him hold the door for Maeve with the other hand still protectively on the small of her back, Spencer never seemed more adult. Morgan thought that someone should check if Spencer had any plants that would need watering, because he had a feeling that their very own genius won't be leaving Dr. Donovan's apartment any time soon.

"You lucky bastard," he muttered before driving off.


	2. Expecting

**So, this is not the plot yet, just an introduction full of Reid family fluff. There are a few time jumps, because I needed to get this part over quickly. Basically Spencer receives some news that make him very, very nervous.**

* * *

_Well, when I was a young man never been kissed_

_I got to thinkin' it over how much I had missed_

_So I got me a girl and I kissed her and then,_

_and then, oh, lord, I kissed 'er again._

_(Jimmie Rodgers – Kisses Sweeter Than Wine)_

* * *

_**Six months later**_

"Okay, Spence, what's going on?"

JJ cornered him at the coffee machine, which wasn't a very fair thing to do. The only less fair place would be the bathroom, but that wasn't an option for her, so coffee machine it was. Spencer took his cup and tried to keep a poker face.

"Nothing, everything is fine," he said, trying to sound nonchalant.

"You do know that all your colleagues study human behavior for living, right? You can't keep a secret here," she reminded him.

"Plus," Morgan emerged from behind a corner, "if you don't fess up now, I'll set Garcia on your case."

"You've been acting weird since Monday. Something happened with Maeve?" JJ pressed. They all knew that Maeve took Spencer on a romantic getaway for the weekend and he came back distracted, to put it mildly.

Spencer hesitated. He knew he would have to tell them sooner of later. Besides, it would take Garcia about ten seconds to find out. He had just hoped to have some time to get used to the idea before telling them, but no such luck.

"Not exactly."

"What do you mean, not exactly?" Morgan moved so that he blocked his way out.

"Well, the problem is only half Maeve. The other half is, well... me."

JJ and Morgan exchanged a confused look. _Damn, they are going to make me say it out loud, _Spencer realized.

"It's genetically half Maeve..." he added, desperately hoping that at least JJ would get it, but this really wasn't his lucky day. Both of his colleagues looked like he was speaking Swahili.

"She is pregnant," he confessed.

JJ congratulated him and hugged him, while Morgan playfully punched him in the arm. "You go, Kid! Or is it Papa now?"

"Who is Papa?" asked Blake, who just came for her second coffee.

"Spence will be," announced JJ.

Blake bit her lip and suppressed a laugh, when she saw his expression. "Come on, Reid, show some excitement. It's not like you're going into labor or something."

"Stop it!" Reid waved his hands. "I am freaking out! It's too soon, we are together six months, we are not ready for this..."

"Sixteen," Blake interrupted him. "You are together for sixteen months. You just haven't seen each other the first ten, but that doesn't change a thing. Do you want to be with this woman?"

"Yes, but..."

Blake raised her hand to silence him. "Do you want to keep the baby?"

"Yes, but..."

"Ah-ah, let me finish. Can you keep this baby?"

"What?"

"Do you have enough money, a place to live...?"

"Yes, but it's too soon!" Spencer managed to get out before he was stopped.

"No, it's too late. Too late to be thinking about that. Right now, you have a woman and a baby to think about. Will you take care of your child?"

"My child... oh my God..." Spencer suddenly felt very weak.

"Hey, Blake, back off, he's going to faint any moment," Morgan warned.

Spencer started walking like a somnambulist. Blake and Morgan stepped back to allow him through, because otherwise he would have just walked over them. He stared ahead and kept muttering. The only words they caught were _my child_. Other agents watched as he sat down at his desk, clutching the cup of coffee in both hands, and kept muttering.

"I think you just broke him," said JJ.

"We can try turning him off and on again," Morgan suggested.

"Oh, Gorgeous, are you trying to fix a computer? You know you are not supposed to do that without adult supervision," teased Garcia, who just emerged from her lair to get coffee.

"Close enough," Morgan pointed to Spencer.

"What's with him?" asked Garcia.

"He and Maeve are having a baby..."

Penelope squealed loudly. Everybody in the room was a little startled, but Reid jumped and spilled his coffee all over himself. JJ had to duck behind Morgan's back to hide her laughter, as Reid cursed and darted for the bathroom.

With Garcia knowing, the news spread like wildfire and half of the Bureau knew by the time Reid got back from the bathroom. The next day Reid's desk was flooded by gifts – books on baby names, pacifiers, toys – and cards. Most of the cards were standard and he was sure that he would find all of them in the nearest shops, but one seemed home-made. On the outside was a pretty graphic of him and Maeve, but inside said CONGRATULATIONS ON GETTING LAID. Next to it the sender taped a condom and scribbled _For the next time_.

Spencer Reid was a profiler genius, it didn't take him long to figure out who it was from. The adolescent sense of humor, access to someone with computer skills...

"Morgan!"

* * *

_**Three months later**_

"Our unsub is highly intelligent, possibly a genius. Probably a female. She is most likely socially awkward, preferring to spend her free time doing research, rather that socializing. That leads to very limited dating options. The unsub is probably waiting for the right one, to the point where she would be a virgin at thirty if nobody suitable appears. She has loving, but not overprotective parents with science background and very poor sense of humor. Luckily the unsub has an amazing godfather..."

"Morgan, would you please stop referring to my unborn daughter as the unsub?"

"I am sorry, Papa, but we can't leave picking out baby names to you and Maeve," Morgan protested.

They were all at Rossi's and Morgan just decided to take matter in his own hands. He almost set up a board and started profiling the child.

"As I said," Morgan continued, "the unsub has an amazing godfather."

"I would think so," Maeve interrupted. "Rossi is pretty amazing."

Morgan opened his mouth, closed it, opened it again and then looked accusingly at Spencer: "You promised I get to be her godfather!"

"Not if you keep calling her the unsub," Maeve said adamantly. "Her name is Joanna."

"Come on!" Garcia came to Morgan's aid. "Get a little creative! Arwen for example..."

"No!" Maeve moaned theatrically. "I can't believe this has to be said, but _I want to name my daughter the way I want_!"

"I think it is a pretty name," said Hotch, probably to calm the discussion a little bit.

"You named your son _Jack_," Garcia glared at him. "And the mother of _Henry _has nothing to say either," she stopped JJ as she was opening her mouth. "This baby," she waved in the direction of Maeve's stomach, "is probably going to invent a teleport or cure cancer or something and to do that she needs a more impressive name than Joanna."

"Joanna Donovan has a nice ring to it," Blake shrugged.

"It's Joanna Reid actually," Spencer said. "After we get married, Maeve is keeping her maiden name because of her work, but we want Joanna and any other child we might have to be called Reid."

"Wait, what was that, married?" Rossi asked. "You are getting married?"

"Yes, after the baby's born and we get settled a bit, we will decide on a date," Maeve confirmed.

The whole team was rendered speechless. They all got used to the idea of Hotch being married, then divorced, then dating, they would all expect Rossi to eventually find Mrs. Rossi number four, JJ marrying Will hadn't been much of a surprise, but Spencer? Spencer being all dressed up and kissing Maeve in a white dress, Spencer saying things like _my wife_? No way. The idea of a baby had been strange enough, but it was something that _happened _to them, not their decision.

"I think the word you're all looking for is congratulations," Spencer suggested.

Suddenly Maeve twitched like somebody pinched her. Spencer turned to her with wide eyes, laying his hand on her shoulder.

"What is it?"

A huge smile slowly crept across Maeve's face. "Give me your hand," she said.

He complied and she pressed his palm to her stomach. For a moment nothing happened, but then Spencer jumped a little. He stared at Maeve for a while before he started grinning like an idiot.

"Is it...?" he whispered.

Maeve nodded.

"What's going on?" Morgan frowned, his eyes darting between Maeve and Spencer, who seemed to forget that there are people in the room. Garcia seemed equally confused, but the others had a knowing expression.

"The baby started to move," JJ said quietly.

* * *

_**Four months later**_

"JJ?" Spencer's voice sounded small and scared.

"Spence? What's going on?" JJ sat on the bed and checked the clock on her nightstand. It was two in the morning and Will next to her muttered something about _fucking serial killers can't wait until morning_.

"I... can you call the others and come to the hospital, please?"

JJ shot out of the bed, turned the light on and started looking for clothes. "Sure, what happened?"

"The... the baby... it's coming and Maeve told me to wait outside..."

"Why?" JJ relaxed a little because it didn't look like a life or death situation.

"She said I was freaking her out," he admitted.

"You didn't happen to spout some birth statistics, did you?" she asked suspiciously.

The silence on the other end of the line was an answer by itself.

"Oh Spence," she sighed. "I'll let the others know and I'll be there ASAP, okay?"

As it happened, it was Morgan who arrived in the hospital first. He found Spencer on a bench on a corridor, sitting between two piles of books, holding one in his hand and staring at it unhappily. There was a muffled scream from one of the delivery rooms and Spencer dropped the book.

"Hey, Papa, relax," Morgan picked it up and wanted to put it on the pile on Spencer's left.

"No, that's read books, this is unread," he protested and made him put the book on the right pile. Just then JJ, Hotch and Garcia appeared at the end of the corridor.

"How is it going?" asked Hotch.

"I don't know," Spencer whispered. He looked like he was going to cry. "She looked like she was in a lot of pain. Is it normal? It didn't look normal," he turned to JJ.

"It is perfectly normal," said JJ comfortingly. "Childbirth hurts, but she will forget everything once she has Joanna."

Spencer was biting his lip. "It's my fault."

"No it isn't," Morgan insisted.

"It is!"

"Say this one more time and in fifteen years I'll tell Joanna that you called her a fault," said Hotch seriously.

Spencer turned green and he looked ready to pass out. He was saved by a nurse who approached the group.

"Doctor Reid? You have a beautiful baby girl," she announced. "Her name is Joanna and she is ready to meet you. Come with me."

He followed her down the hall. She lead him to a room where she left him alone with Maeve, who was half sitting on a bed, and a little bundle in Maeve's arms. He tentatively sat on the edge of the bed and looked at the impossibly tiny face of his daughter. How could she be so incredibly small? It didn't seem right.

And then it hit him. This was the Joanna they were talking about for months. The baby – his baby – was here and it was his responsibility to take care of her. And he couldn't imagine doing anything else because this little human right there had already sneaked into his heart and settled there.

"Hello, Joanna," he whispered, touching her cheek gingerly.

"Do you want to hold her?" Maeve asked.

He looked up at the sound of her voice. "How are you? Are you okay?"

"I'm still sore, but otherwise, I'm good. Do you want to hold her?"

Spencer hesitated. The baby seemed like one wrong move would crush her.

"Come on, don't be a coward, it's your daughter!" Maeve gently showed him how to hold her and when Joanna squirmed a little, Spencer beamed. This was exactly how things were supposed to be.

The rest of the team came to visit the next day. When they entered the room, they saw an image they have never expected to see. Spencer Reid was holding a baby like he had been doing nothing else his entire life and he was quietly talking to her.

"It is the theory of natural selection," Maeve, who just came from the bathroom, informed them. When she saw the confused looks on their faces, she smiled reassuringly. "Don't worry, I'll explain it properly when she's older."

"This girl is doomed, isn't she?" Rossi sighed.

Morgan nodded. "Wanna bet her first word is gonna be Darwin?"


	3. Missing

**Next chapter, this time with an actual plot. I know that some parts are a little far-fetched, but I tried to be at least interesting. How does the team and Maeve deal with a situation when it's Reid in danger?**

**Thanks for the reviews, you are all very sweet to me. Special thanks to those constructive reviews that pointed out more specific things, good or bad. You know who I am talking about.**

* * *

_I see the bad moon arising._

_I see trouble on the way._

_I see earthquakes and lightnin'._

_I see bad times today._

_(John Fogerty, Bad Moon Rising)_

* * *

_Three months later_

"Hey, Hotch, can you please tell Spencer to go home? My parents are coming in an hour and I am way behind with the cooking..."

"Wait, Maeve, slow down, Reid isn't home yet?" Hotch frowned.

The rest of the team looked up. They were all held up by paperwork, but Spencer left early to help Maeve prepare for her parents' visit.

"He is not at work?" Maeve sounded alarmed.

"No, he left two hours ago..."

"I thought he was with you. I couldn't reach his cellphone, I assumed that the battery died again... Oh my..."

"Okay, Maeve, calm down, maybe it's just something stupid. I'll have Garcia check the traffic, if there have been any accidents..."

"Sir," Garcia interrupted him in a small voice, "that will not be necessary. I checked the security cameras. Reid's car is still in the parking lot."

There was a long silence.

"I'm on my way to you," said Maeve. Her voice sounded strangely hard and calm. She hung up before Hotch had a chance to protest.

* * *

"Any news?" Maeve stormed into a conference room, looking like a goddess of war, if that's possible with a backpack over her shoulder and baby in her arms.

"We checked the footage from the security camera," said Blake. "Show her."

The blurry video showed Spencer walking to his car, stopping and looking towards an SUV parked a few spots away. He went to look behind the SUV and never came out. They couldn't see what happened next because the car blocked the view, but when it drove off moments later, the parking lot was empty.

"We checked the records a bit further back to see who came in the car, but the unsub was wearing a hat the whole time. The rest of the face was obscured by a beard. License plate is stolen, he had a fake badge that got him in the parking lot. He exited the car the moment he saw Reid coming out of the door, but he stayed in the blind spot behind the SUV. We think that he might have called for help or something like that to make Reid come so close," Morgan explained.

Hotch nodded. "This wasn't a chance abduction. The unsub knew where the cameras are, he was careful not to show us face, he had the stolen license plate and the fake badge. He was perfectly prepared."

"Have you noticed anything out of the ordinary lately?" Rossi turned to Maeve. "The same car repeatedly parked in your street, a stranger hanging out on the sidewalk...?"

"No," Maeve shook her head.

"Maeve, can you give us a second, please?" said Blake and gently lead her out of the room before Maeve had the chance to protest. Once the door closed, Blake turned to others. "Don't you think Reid would have noticed a stalker?"

"You know how absent-minded he can be. This unsub is clever, maybe clever enough to pass unnoticed," said Hotch.

"Maybe by Reid," said Rossi slowly. "Not by her," he nodded towards a glass door. Maeve was standing just behind it, her back to them, watching the office. "She has successfully avoided a stalker for months. She would have noticed something was off."

"So what?" asked Morgan. "The unsub _didn't _stalk Reid? How is that even possible?"

They all looked at the painfully empty board.

"It is not," Blake shook her head. "It is not possible to pull this off without knowing Reid's habits at least a little. The unsub had to know Reid's car, that he's here today..."

"That's what bugs me," Morgan interrupted her. "Why take him from Quantico of all places? Why not wait until he gets home? Why risk taking him here?"

"Because here is where the person stalked him," said Hotch slowly. "Rossi was right, Maeve would have noticed. The unsub learned only Reid's work routine, not how his home works."

"Great, so they thought that Maeve is a bigger risk that the FBI," Morgan muttered.

"They turned out to be right, didn't they?" JJ replied darkly.

"Maybe they did it to taunt us," Blake suggested. "To show us that we can't protect one of our own in our home territory."

"Which brings us to the motive," sighed Rossi.

"Considering the abduction site and victimology, I would say revenge," said Hotch. "Garcia, give us a list of all the unsubs we have apprehended since Reid joined the team. Locate all family members, lovers and close friends and find out if any of them are in the area."

"That's a lot of ground to cover, sir," Garcia looked around helplessly.

"Start with those Reid had some special connection with – where he was crucial in solving the case, where he had unusual contact with the unsub or that particular family member, where he made the arrest personally," Hotch suggested.

Meanwhile Rossi opened the door and invited Maeve back in. Her eyes flickered from one face to another with a questioning look.

"We don't know much, but the working theory is that it's some form of revenge," said JJ.

"And as he wasn't killed on the spot, the revenge is probably going to include torture, right?" Maeve added. She tried to sound calm, but her insides were twisting just at the thought of it and her mind flashed back to what Spencer told her about his encounter with Tobias Hankel.

Nobody from the team wanted to answer. Maeve looked down at Joanna who was squirming in her arms. "Let me work this one with you," she said finally.

"What?" exclaimed JJ, Rossi and Morgan at the same time.

"Please," a tear ran down Maeve's cheek. "Let me help you find him..."

_Please, help me find her... _The whole team felt like they were transported a year and a half ago and looking at a desperate Reid who begged them to save a woman he had never seen.

Finally Hotch cracked. "It's probably safer to keep you close. You stay here, understood? If we're in the field, we'll keep you posted. And now, think hard, have you noticed anything out of the ordinary lately?"

"No... wait, I've almost forgotten. It was, I don't know, four weeks ago? Spencer was outside, it was Sunday morning, and this man came up to him. They talked, Spencer said that it was some kind of missionary? When I came out with Jo, he walked away, pretty much in the middle of a sentence. I remembered I thought it's strange that he isn't in church on Sunday, but Spencer gave me the whole lecture on churches who had their services on Saturday," said Maeve.

"What did he look like?"

"He was small, he came up to Spencer's shoulder, big beard, a hat... that's about it. I didn't get a good look at him, he was gone too fast."

"He didn't want you to see him," Blake nodded. "And with the hat and the beard, that must be him."

"Okay," Hotch said. "We have nothing better to do, we can as well help with the research. Everybody grab a file and start digging."

* * *

"This is the worst," Morgan slammed his file on the table. "Normally we would be in the field, interviewing the families, searching the crime scenes, something! We have absolutely nothing to go on."

JJ looked to where Maeve was feeding Joanna. "Imagine how she must feel. Just when she thought it was all over."

Morgan shook his head and seemed to sink lower in his chair.

"Morgan?" JJ spoke so quietly he barely heard her. "If this is revenge... What if all this work is for nothing? What if he's already...?"

"Don't think about this. What if he's still alive? He needs us and we're not going to let him down."

JJ looked at Maeve again and she remember how she felt when Will was abducted. She was far from calm and methodical, which now described Maeve the best. Spencer's girlfriend asked her parents to bring her a cot for Joanna, some spare clothes, a new supply of diapers, simply everything a mother and a child needed for an extended sleepover at the FBI headquarters. She also went through Spencer's emails, looking for anything useful, and sat with a sketch artist to make a good picture of the unsub.

They have seen an endless number of distraught relatives, crying, accusing the investigators, shouting, silently staring ahead... Very few of them reacted by focusing on a problem and analyzing it.

"It gives her something to do and some semblance of control over the situation," said Blake like she could read JJ's mind.

"But how does she do it? How does she not feel it?"

"She will. Give it time and she will," said Blake and suddenly she sounded very sad and tired.

* * *

Spencer felt slightly nauseated and had a nasty headache. He was kept in a dark room and as far as he could tell, he had one wrist handcuffed to the bed frame. Otherwise he was thirsty and confused, but unharmed.

Of course he remembered a faint call for help from behind an SUV, he recalled going to look, seeing a figure slumped on the ground... and that was it.

_I was kidnapped. Okay. How do I get out of this?_

He tested the handcuffs, but they seemed to hold. Before he could go on any further, a voice spoke right next to him.

"Keep calm, Dr. Reid, listen to what I tell you and this doesn't have to get violent." It sounded artificial, there was probably some kind of transmitter he couldn't see. "If everything goes according to the plan, you'll see your family soon."

_Maeve must be devastated right now. I missed the dinner with her parents..._

"What do you want?" he asked, trying to keep his voice as calm as possible.

"I want her back. They took her from me and that should never happen. Now, I am coming to your room and I want you to be perfectly still. Try to fight and I _will _hurt your wife and child."

Spencer froze, but only for a second. Then he took a deep breath and forced himself to relax. "Okay, okay, no fighting. Your rules. Nobody needs to get hurt."

Someone came in the room and turned the light on. Spencer closed his eyes, blinded by the sudden brightness. That meant that he only heard the person come closer and felt a phone being pressed into his free hand.

"And now we're going to make a call."


	4. Calling

**A/N: New chapter for you. I hope you enjoy it and I hope you review! Can't wait to hear your opinions on how the team deals with a new situation.**

* * *

_Well, I'm not dumb but I can't understand_

_Why she walk like a woman and talk like a man_

_(Ray Davies, Lola)_

* * *

Maeve's phone rang. She had been half asleep in her chair, so she just lazily picked it up and looked at the caller ID. When she saw it, her heart jumped with excitement.

"It's Spencer!" she called.

The room changed from slightly sleepy to frantic activity in a blink of an eye. Morgan was telling Garcia to trace the call. Hotch told Maeve to put it on speaker and quickly instructed her how to talk to whoever was on the other side, while Blake was trying to get everybody to shut up. As soon as the room was silent, they gathered around the phone and Maeve pressed the button.

"Spencer?"

"Hello." He sounded a little shaky, but otherwise normal. Maeve had to grip the table because she felt like her legs were going to give up. It felt like an actual physical burden was lifted off her shoulders.

"Where are you?" she asked, trying to keep calm.

"I have a message for you," he said in a monotone voice that suggested that he was reading something. "Nobody will get hurt, if you just return Anna where she belongs. Give Anna back and everything will be the way it's supposed to be."

"Who is Anna?"

There was a long pause. "You act like you know everything," Spencer said without any emotion, which strangely contrasted with the message. "Play God one more time, find Anna and give her back. I will call you again tomorrow."

"Are you okay?" Maeve asked. "We are worried."

"I am not hurt. I have had worse, you know." They could almost hear the smile in his voice and they realized that this is Spencer himself talking. "Fear not, my drowned Viola, and give my regards to fair Portia..."

Suddenly the phone went dead. Maeve reached for it like she could catch the signal, but Rossi gently stopped her. "They hung up. The unsub didn't want Reid to have any more time with you, he needs to show Reid that he controls everything."

Hotch turned to their tech analyst. "Garcia, could you trace it?"

"No, sir, not enough time. I ran the number – it's a prepaid cellphone, trying to locate it now, but I doubt there'll be any hits."

"Good. Cross-reference the list of suspects with the name Anna. She might be a child lost in a custody battle, someone imprisoned, institutionalized, anything that can be interpreted as taken by establishment."

"On it." Garcia started typing rapidly, hitting the keys so hard that Maeve was afraid she was going to break the keyboard.

"Okay," Morgan sat on the table. "What was the last bit about? Is he drugged?"

The team exchanged worried looks because the last sentence seemed like Spencer went completely mad, but Maeve was thinking hard. Spencer rarely said things without a reason. There was a hidden message in his last words. _Drowned Viola. _That phrase rang a bell, if only she could remember it.

"He was trying to tell me something, if I only could..." she banged her hand on the table in frustration. "C'mon, Spencer, I don't have eidetic memory and you know it..." Suddenly realization dawned on her face. "You _do _know it, that's why you would never code a message if you weren't sure I can understand it." The team was watching her cautiously, wondering whether she finally snapped. "Drowned Viola... _I should my tears let fall upon your cheek and say: "Thrice welcome, drowned Viola."_ That's it!" she exclaimed.

"Maeve, I know this probably makes perfect sense to you," said Rossi slowly, "but you're the only person in the room who has ever been able to keep up with Reid, so would you be so kind and tell us what's going on?"

"Viola and Portia are both Shakespeare's characters, Viola is from Twelfth Night, my favorite play, Portia is from the Merchant of Venice. There is one thing they have in common – cross-dressing."

"Wait, so he was telling you to dress like a man?" JJ couldn't understand.

"He wasn't talking about _me_. He was giving us a tip on his kidnapper," said Maeve. "He was taken by a woman!"

Blake, who had caught on a few moments ago, already scanned the board. "It all fits. She keeps stressing out that nobody needs to get hurt, that fits a woman better than a man. Also the word choice – where Anna _belongs_, _give her back, the way it's supposed to be_ – it could be a mother asking for her child."

Maeve nodded. "It's not so hard to put on a beard and man's clothes."

"But how did she pull it off? I know that Reid looks like Joanna could beat him up, but he is still a field agent. He would put up a fight," Morgan argued.

"Chloroform, sedatives, name it," shrugged Rossi. "This was planned carefully. She would have found a way."

"So we're looking for a woman kidnapping Reid," Morgan gave up. "That's a first."

"I have bad news, my lovelies," Garcia said from her computer. "I looked through every unsub's mother, wife, sister, daughter, and pet fish, looking for Anna, and nothing that fits the description."

"Try extending the search on their lives after the case. Maybe Anna was born after our encounter with this unsub," Rossi suggested.

"I did that. Still no hits. It's like this Anna is a ghost."

* * *

"Tell me," Spencer asked when his kidnapper brought him dinner, "why me? Of all the people to trade for Anna, why me?"

He figured out that pressuring her for more specific facts would not work, but this was something he saw as an option. He still hadn't seen the woman's face, she was wearing a ski mask now, but he watched her hands pause as she was thinking about the answer.

"Because you're a liar. I needed a big sinner."

"And you thought it was me? That's not very flattering," Spencer attempted a smile, but failed. The memory of Tobias Hankel was too fresh in his mind. _Why are they always religious?_

"You are a traitor and a liar. If anything goes wrong, I can kill you without remorse," she said, but her voice betrayed doubt.

"Did I betray you?" Spencer asked, hoping to get some answer.

She hesitated, then nodded.

"Tell me how and I will make it right," he promised.

"No!" she yelled, yanking the uneaten food from his hands. "You can't make it right, nobody can make it right, except God!"

"How about making it better? Would Anna make it better?" Spencer tried a different tactic.

The eyes behind the mask were glistening with tears now. "They took her from me. I just want her back."

"I know. This is hard for me too, being separated from family, but I will see them again, right? When you have Anna back, I will go back to my baby, won't I?" He wasn't acting now. He desperately needed reassurance that he'll see Maeve and Joanna again.

"Yes," she said. "That's the way it's supposed to be."

* * *

"I'm still thinking about this," Blake pointed at the board with the notes about the mystery missionary. "What made her dress up and go talk to him?"

"Contact with the victim?" Morgan suggested.

"She has plenty of that," Hotch shook his head. "And that's not what she's after. Taking Reid has no emotional payoff, it's a tool that's supposed to get her what she really wants."

"Maybe she was testing something," said Rossi.

"But what? This doesn't make any sense," Blake kept frowning.

JJ looked at the board, then at Maeve with Joanna. Then she made a gun from her fingers and tried to point it at them, but shook her head. "Our working hypothesis is that she's a mother fighting to get her child back, right?" she said after that. "I can imagine how she feels right now. She is desperate, she misses Anna, her maternal instincts are working overtime. But she is clever, she planned all this and executed her plan without a glitch so far. She must have considered the possibility of the kidnapping going wrong. She must have had a backup plan.

I know it's a stretch, but listen to this. She wants to coax Reid to go with her somewhere she can knock him out and take him away. Like we said, doing it in Quantico is stupid. So her first plan is to approach him where he lives. She is ready to take him at gunpoint if necessary, shoot her way out if she's forced to, because she needs him to trade him for Anna and there's no way she's giving up on that.

She dresses up and starts a conversation with him. She is getting ready to lure him away, but at that moment Maeve with Joanna appears. There is a baby now and in her state, she sees Anna in every baby and she panics. _What if I have to shoot and I hit the baby by accident? _She's confused and she can't handle it, so she runs. Makes a new plan, where, in case things go wrong, only FBI agents would get hurt.

This," JJ jabbed her finger at the board, "wasn't a test, it was a failed attempt."

"Meaning she wasn't scared that Maeve would see her face, she was scared that Joanna would get hurt by accident," Rossi agreed.

JJ wanted to answer, but she yawned widely.

"You should all go home," said Maeve. "I'll rather stay here, but it's almost midnight and you should all go to your families."

As soon as she said that, Kevin Lynch appeared in the doorway with huge bags. "Six sleeping bags, as ordered," he announced cheerfully.

"Jack is at Haley's sister's, anyway," said Hotch, taking one bag from Kevin.

"And Will and Henry can manage for a day or two," JJ added.

"And the rest of us doesn't have anyone to get home to, so we decided to have one big sleepover," Rossi concluded.

"Dibs on sleeping next to Garcia," Morgan smiled.

* * *

The night was restless and Spencer was feeling the effects of caffeine withdrawal, as well as desperation. He tried not thinking about the night before, when he complained about having to get up to Joanna. His mind played a much more cruel trick on him – it took him back to the first night after Maeve was saved.

"_So this is my apartment," she twirled awkwardly._

_It was everything he imagined it to be. Her book collection included the whole work of Arthur Conan Doyle, Chaucer, Dickens, Hugo... Among her DVDs he spotted the last two seasons of Doctor Who. In any other apartment he would have been halfway through The Tale of Two Cities by now, but not with Maeve. He watched as she looked helplessly at the smashed coffee table and clothes pulled out of the closet and left scattered on the floor, the painful remainders of what happened just a few hours ago._

_She decided to shower first and when she was done, it was Spencer's turn. The smell of her shampoo still lingered in the air and it was doing the strangest things to his body. He finished the shower fast, afraid of what would happen if he smelled jasmine any longer._

_Even in that short time span Maeve managed to clean the shattered glass and he found her standing over the sink, blood dripping from her finger._

"_I cut myself," she said. "Clumsy."_

_She attempted a smile, but she broke down in tears instead. Spencer didn't know what to do, so he did the logical thing – found a band aid and took care of the cut. After that, when Maeve still hadn't stopped sobbing, he hugged her. She leaned against him and they both slid down on the floor._

_They sat on the floor for an hour, maybe more, not saying a word, just fighting for some control over their emotions. Sometimes one or both of them cried, sometimes they laughed, sometimes they just held each other so tight it hurt. It was like trying to regain balance on a swinging rope bridge, but slowly, step by step, they were getting there. Only after their bodies were all sore from the uncomfortable position, Maeve suggested going to sleep._

"_I'll take the couch," said Spencer and moved towards the living room, but Maeve gently caught his arm._

"_Don't be silly. The bed is quite big enough for both of us," she smiled._

_He hesitated. "Maeve, I don't know what you expect, but I don't think... I don't think I am ready."_

"_I don't expect anything, Spencer. I just want to know that if I'm scared during the night, you're right next to me," she whispered._

"_I am," he answered quietly, holding her hand. "I always will be."_

_Nothing happened that night. They didn't sleep, they stayed cuddled together, not talking, just listening to each others heartbeats. In the morning they guessed how the other one liked their coffee and when Morgan came to pick them up, they walked to his car holding hands._


	5. Searching

**Please review! I really want to know if you like this story! Thanks for all the reviews so far, and for the favorites and follows as well. Enjoy the next part of the story.**

* * *

_Nobody can be forced to commit an act of villany. You can't push anybody into the mud; people always step into it themselves. No matter what the circumstances of life are, there are no justifications and there never will be any. (Sergei Lukyanenko, The Night Watch)_

* * *

"Okay, people," Garcia walked in the room, yawning widely, with a laptop under her arm. "I looked for Anna everywhere and found nothing. I don't know how it's possible, sorry."

"Maybe it's a middle name. Or a nickname," Blake suggested. "Try Anabel, Annalise, those kind of names."

Garcia shook her head ruefully. "Been there, done that. Nothing."

"Might be untraceable," said Morgan. "One of my friends was named Eric James, but his parents called him Bobby."

"What happens if we don't find her?" asked Maeve.

"The unsub said she'll call today. We can ask her for more leads," said Rossi and tried to sound comforting. "She wants to find Anna as much as we do, I'm sure she'll cooperate."

"What if she hurts Spencer?"

Hotch laid hands on her shoulders and made her look in his eyes. "I know this sounds harsh, but Reid can take it. He had been through a lot and he had always come out victorious. She will not kill him and anything else he can handle. Our best shot is to find Anna."

* * *

"What's your name?" Spencer asked.

The woman paused. This morning she showed him her face and he was surprised how young she was, not more than twenty-five. She was pretty, blond, blue-eyed, and he was positive that he hadn't seen her in his life.

"You can call me Lisa," she said finally.

"Why did they take Anna away, Lisa?" he pressed.

"God is testing me," she whispered. "He wants to see if I'm worthy to raise his child, and I am. I will get her back."

"I'm sure you will," Spencer assured her, while his brain was on fire again.

He had a feeling that _his child _didn't refer to God's children as much as it referred to the child's biological father. He must have been some man to make such a deep mark on this girl. There were strong religious undertones present, Lisa was talking about the man like he was some kind of saint. Spencer had a few candidates in his mind, but only one was really a possibility.

He was at least ninety-five percent sure that he knew the identity of Anna's father.

* * *

Garcia felt terrible. She was combing their suspect list back and forth, she even pulled up a list of all girls named Anna put into custody in the last year, but came up blank.

"Hey, Baby Girl."

She jumped a little but didn't need to turn to see Morgan. "Hey."

"What, no "hot stuff" or "gorgeous"? I am deeply offended," he clutched his chest theatrically.

"I'm not in mood," Garcia muttered and sipped her coffee. "I mean, custody and adoption is one huge bureaucracy. How can a kid disappear without a trace? There is _always _paper trail."

Morgan looked at the screens suspiciously. "Maybe we were wrong. We thought that the custody was the stressor, but what if it was something else?"

"Well, even I need something better than this. I can't make a miracle from nothing," said Garcia, but without her usual energy. She felt drained the way she had never felt before.

"No, let me finish. We were looking at kids adopted in the last year. But sometimes, when the parent doesn't have the means to take care of the child, they put the kid into custody, but they still let the parent see them from time to time. What if this woman could at least visit Anna, but was lately denied access?"

Garcia stared at him. "Gorgeous _and _smart, I want ten of those," she sighed and the spark of her old self appeared in her wink. "How far back?"

"Try ten years, let's see what we get."

* * *

"We got a major break! Or we think we have. Maybe. We can't connect it to the case, but it's much more than we had in the morning," Garcia marched into the conference room with her laptop.

She waved the remote control and a young woman's portrait popped up.

"Elizabeth Patson, twenty-five years old. Parents divorced, father died of stroke three years ago. Ran away from home when she was fifteen and since then there are absolutely no records of her for four years, until late 2008. She appeared at her mother's doorstep with a baby in her arms. There is no record of the child's birth, no father, like the child began to exist when it was one year old. It is a daughter, Mabel Anna, and she is currently six.

Elizabeth refused to get a job and apparently could neglect the kid for days, so they gave Mabel Anna to the custody of her grandmother and her new husband. Elizabeth lived with them for a couple of years, but a year ago she moved in with a new boyfriend, Colton Berenski. He is a weird one, did a lot of things, including being a private detective, street magician, and scuba-diving instructor. Now he's part-time make-up artist and part-time cult leader. The sect doesn't seem to dangerous, they call themselves the Children of Eden, but they are closer to Jehovah's Witnesses than to David Koresh, the members are all relatively normal people, there were no complaints about them, no criminal records. Elizabeth's stepfather still didn't like it much, so eight months ago he got a restraining order and bam! Elizabeth can't go within a hundred yards from her daughter."

"What makes you think this is our unsub?" asked Hotch.

"It's the only Anna we could find that fits the profile. The stressor wasn't the custody, it was the restraining order," answered Morgan.

Maeve looked at the portrait and caught herself thinking what would she do if someone would tell her she can't see Joanna again. She too would have stopped at nothing to get the right to her daughter back.

"So there is nothing to tie her to Reid?" Rossi raised one eyebrow.

"Not yet, but there are four years in which she could have been doing anything. If we could only find what," Garcia sighed.

"It means one good thing," Blake said. "We can put away all the case files since 2009. During that time she was already accounted for."

"It's something," Hotch agreed. "You two," he told Garcia and Morgan, "good work. Where does Elizabeth's family live?"

"Oh, I'm glad you ask," Garcia beamed. "Fredericksburg. Forty minutes from here."

"Good. Dave, Morgan, you take the boyfriend, Blake, JJ, you're talk to the mother. I stay here with Maeve in case she calls," Hotch commanded.

* * *

JJ followed Blake to the front door of a suburban house, thinking that this is a nice place for a kid to grow up. The woman in her late forties, or perhaps early fifties, who opened the door was warm and welcoming, and her husband, even though he was a dominant personality, seemed like a decent person.

"We haven't heard from Elizabeth in months," Mrs. Grayson, Elizabeth's mother, admitted. "After the restraining order she was furious, she threatened us, she came to William's work, she sent us angry letters, called us every day, but after a month or two she gave up."

"And you haven't reported any of this?" Blake raised her eyebrows.

"Elizabeth has always been difficult," said Mrs. Grayson sadly. "It's her father's blood. William wanted to go to the police, but I asked him to wait a little longer. I hoped she would give up and she did."

_Only to find another way to get Anna back, _JJ thought, but she asked a different thing: "Why did you ask for the restraining order?"

"It was the damn man she started seeing," Mr. Grayson muttered. "He filled her head with nonsense, she wanted Mabel back, and there was no way we would allow that. She wasn't fit to take care of the kid. She used to forget to change her diapers for days, she forgot to feed her, she used to just walk out of the door and not return for days...

We stepped in and adopted Mabel. We let Elizabeth live here with us, because we didn't want the kid to be completely without her mom. A year ago she moved out and the first three months we haven't seen her at all. Later she came back, talking about how Mabel is supposed to be with her mother and this isn't right. Of course we told her no, and when she said she would take Mabel by force, I filed for the restraining order."

"Has Elizabeth ever talked about what happened during the time she was missing?" said Blake.

"Not a word," Mrs. Grayson shook her head. "Not even the name of Mabel's father. When I asked, she only told me that he was the best man she ever met."

_Such a great man... surely Elizabeth would want her Anna to know about him, _JJ thought.

"Is Mabel home?" she asked. "I want to talk to her."

Mrs. Grayson showed her to the room of a little girl. It was quite neat and tidy for a six-year-old girl and JJ thought that maybe the Graysons were trying extra hard to ensure that Mabel won't end up like her mother. Mabel herself was a pretty brown haired girl with her mother's blue eyes and she was watching JJ with cautious expression.

"Mabel, this is agent Jareau, she wants to have a chat with you," said Mrs. Grayson. "I'll leave you alone," she told JJ.

Once the door closed, JJ smiled. "Hi, I'm Jennifer. Mabel, do you know where is your mom?"

"She is with a bad man," said Mabel.

"How do you know this?" JJ was surprised.

"Grandpa said so. He said that because of the bad man she can't see me."

Mabel didn't seem very sorry that her mom's absent. Perhaps she was happier this way, when her grandparents took care of her. She was sure that Elizabeth wanted her little girl back, that she might even love her, but whatever sickness plagued her mind didn't allow her to stay focused on the care Mabel needed. With a feeling of horror JJ realized that to save Spence they would have to give this girl to the woman who could forget to feed her for days.

"When have you last seen your mom?" she asked, trying not to think too far ahead.

"She gave me a birthday present," said Mabel, touching the silver cross on her neck. JJ remembered that Mabel's birthday was in a month, so she hadn't seen Elizabeth for almost a year. Whatever battle was raging between Elizabeth and the Graysons, Mabel had been left out of it.

"Has she ever talked about your dad?" JJ got to the point. It was a stab in the dark and she didn't really expect an useful answer, so she was surprised when Mabel nodded.

"She said that dad is in Heaven with angels."

_So we are looking for a case with a dead male. That won't narrow it down much, but we might be able to cut a few files out._

JJ looked at the doll Mabel was playing with. It was dressed in a pink gown and had a crown on her head. "Is that a princess? My mom used to call me Princess when I was your age. What did your mom call you?"

Mabel just shrugged like her mother was not important. "She called me Anna."

* * *

The Children of Eden had a small house at the edge of Fredericksburg and apparently tried to recreate the Garden there. The building was barely visible through the bushes and trees and walking to the front door reminded Morgan of jungle.

Colton Berenski was waiting for them in the living room. There was no couch, actually no furniture at all, just thick green carpet, so they sat on the floor, opposite to Colton. The man was dressed in flowing white robes and he was wearing the most sanctimonious expression Morgan has even seen.

"Welcome," he said. "I understand that you come to talk about Elizabeth."

"Yes, we do," said Rossi cheerfully. "Where is she?"

"On a crusade."

"What crusade?" Morgan sounded more hostile than he intended, but he could never stand religious fanatics.

"Her daughter is kept from her. It is against the natural order of things and Elizabeth is trying to right that wrong," Colton answered with a smile.

"This particular mother neglected her child," Rossi pointed out.

"Doesn't matter. Mother and child. Nothing should separate them," Colton said. "I don't know what she's doing, but whatever it might be, she has my full support."

"Do you know more about this crusade?" Rossi pressed further.

"She said she needed to talk to somebody who didn't want to talk to her, so I gave her a few tips on the disguises."

Morgan remembered Garcia talking about Colton Berenski being a make-up artist. _That would explain the cross-dressing and the beard, _he thought. _Maybe he's the brains of the operation._

"Where is Elizabeth now?"

"I have no idea." The smug smile that accompanied the last sentence did it for Morgan. He reached for Colton and grabbed him by the collar.

"You wouldn't let your woman stray that far for that long without checking on her," he growled in his face. "Where is she?"

"Morgan, calm down!" Rossi warned, but he didn't listen, only shook Colton a little harder.

"She calls once a week," Colton managed to say. "She said she has some leverage now, so I expect she'll be home soon. That's all I know, I swear."

"You are lying!" Morgan shouted.

"Prove it!" spat Colton.

"Morgan!"

Morgan let him go, but kept eying him suspiciously. He was sure that the man was hiding something. He even seemed clever enough to plan the whole thing for Elizabeth. Unfortunately also clever enough to make sure nothing can be tied back to him.

Colton smoothed his clothes with a dignified expression. "I need to ask you to leave. Will you go now or do I need to call the police?"


	6. Storytelling

**Please, review, and thanks to all the people who wrote reviews for the previous chapters! The finale is just around the corner, the next chapter. Enjoy!**

* * *

_I am telling you your story, not hers. I tell no one any story but his own. (C. , The Horse and His Boy)_

* * *

"Okay, the next time she calls we need to get Reid talking," Hotch told Maeve. "Not her, Reid. He gave us one tip, he'll give us another if he gets the chance. Do you have any idea how to do this?"

Maeve braced herself. She knew that Spencer was being used as a mouthpiece and she would give anything to hear the real him again. She thought hard, looking at the picture of Elizabeth Patson.

"She is doing all this to get her little girl back, right?" she turned to Hotch.

"We believe so."

"I think I have an idea."

She was interrupted by an angry Morgan coming back with a slightly annoyed Rossi. Blake and JJ came moments later and they reported what they found.

"So the girl's father is dead and nobody knows how to identify him," sighed Hotch after the briefing.

"This is not important right now," JJ interrupted him. "We can't give her the girl. Mabel's happy with her grandmother, she doesn't even miss her mother. Give her to Elizabeth and in twenty years we have her on there," she gestured to the board reserved for the unsub.

"She won't give us Reid until she has Anna back," Rossi said.

"You are not actually suggesting...?" JJ couldn't even finish the question.

"Of course not, but we need to consider at least bringing Anna with us."

"We can't put a six-year-old in the line of fire!" Blake exclaimed. "God, where is Reid when you need him?"

"Somewhere in a dark room with a psychotic bitch," said Maeve coldly. "And we _are _getting him back without endangering neither him nor Anna. You know he would've found a way and so will we."

* * *

It was evening when the phone rang. Maeve almost dived for it, but Hotch stopped her and gathered the team first. Only after everybody was present he let her pick up.

"Spencer?"

"Hello. Have you found Anna?" His tone suggested that he was reading a message again.

"Yes, yes we did." Maeve tried to keep her voice calm and stick to the script. "They just don't want to give her to us, but we are working on it."

"Work faster. Tomorrow, 9 AM, I will send you an address in time. You will be there with Anna or I'll leave you a corpse." It was amazing how calm Spencer was, talking about his death, but Maeve started shaking. She could feel a breakdown coming, but she had to hold on for a little while longer.

"We will be there," said Maeve. "Can I talk to Spencer please?"

There was a short moment of silence, before he answered. "Hey, it's me."

"Hey," Maeve replied, not even bothering to conceal the emotion in her voice. "We miss you. The little one misses your bedtime stories."

She ignored the confusion of the team, concentrating only on Spencer.

"Is the baby there?" They were both careful not to give Elizabeth even the tiniest bit of information, not even Joanna's gender.

"Yes, the baby's here with me." Maeve glanced over to where Garcia's office was, where Joanna was asleep in her cot.

"Maybe I can tell a bedtime story over the phone?" They all knew that the question wasn't directed at them. "My little one loves it when Papa tells a story." The silence was long, but Elizabeth wasn't hanging up, which was a good sign. Finally Spencer spoke again:

"There was once a king, who ruled in a Silver Country. He had many beautiful queens and many little princes and princesses and they all lived happily together. But an evil Prince envied their happiness and sent a traitor, who acted like he was the king's friend and gained the king's trust.

But the guards from Prince's country were impatient and they didn't wait for the traitor to do his work. Instead, they laid siege to the Silver Castle. The king still hoped that the traitor can help him, but that never happened. Instead the traitor tried to take all of his beautiful queens. He almost succeeded, but the youngest queen realized his plans and fought back. She found a magical box that took her and the king to a beautiful place, where the guards can't reach them, and they can live happily ever after there."

"That was beautiful," said Maeve. "I know how important it is to you that we hear your stories."

"Tomorrow," Spencer replied in the emotionless voice of the messenger. "9 AM. I will send the address."

Elizabeth hung up and Maeve had to take a deep breath to calm down.

"What the hell was that about?" Morgan asked, but nobody listened.

"Garcia, were you able to track it?" Hotch turned to the analyst.

"Sorry, sir, it's somewhere in Fredericksburg, but that's the best I can give you."

"Fine, search the area for any property that can in some way be tied to Elizabeth Patson."

"On it, sir."

Meanwhile Maeve turned to the still confused Morgan. "It was a strategy I put together with Hotch," she explained. "I needed to give Spencer a chance to tell us something and we thought that a mother won't stop a father from telling his daughter a story. It was a message. We just need to figure it out."

"Who is the Prince?" Rossi started. "Maybe it's a nickname?"

"I don't think it's anyone," Maeve shook her head. "When he talked about the siege, he specifically said _the guards from Prince's country_. I think this is a reference to Prince William County – to Quantico."

"Meaning that the traitor is an FBI agent," Blaked continued. "And he wants to take away the beautiful queens – the victims?"

"So we're looking for a guy who held multiple females," Hotch agreed. "At first he was confronted by an undercover FBI agent, later probably by the whole team."

"What bugs me," said Morgan, "is the last part. About the youngest queen. According to Spencer's story one of the victims helped the unsub escape. But we have already established that Anna's father is dead."

"Maybe the king wasn't the father?" JJ suggested.

"The magic box," Rossi whispered. "A magic box that took them to a place where they could live happily ever after and the guards couldn't reach them. Did Reid manage to sneak in a Doctor Who reference or does anyone else think it sounds a lot like going to a better place?"

They were all concentrating on the case files they had read, so when Morgan jumped to his feet, shouting: "Got it!", JJ actually yelped in surprise, Blake spilled her coffee and Rossi, who had been writing notes, jerked his hand so hard that he drew a line on his pants.

"What was that about?" Blaked asked angrily, wiping coffee off the table.

"That religious freak in Colorado, Benjamin Cyrus!"

"Of course," JJ nodded.

"He was a leader of a sect, calling themselves the Separatarians. He was polygamous, marrying numerous teenage girls, that's what first caught our attention. Reid and Prentiss went there to interview the girls, but while they were in, the local police raided the community. There was gunfire and it ended in a siege. Prentiss' cover was blown, but Reid managed to gain Cyrus' trust," Morgan explained to Blake and Maeve, while frantically searching for the right file. "Cyrus was planning to blow the whole place up. We had to go in, but Reid and Prentiss managed to get the women and children out. Only one of his wives, Jessica Evanson, went back. She saw that Cyrus was shot before he could press the button, she saw the detonator and she did it herself. She found the magic box that took them to a better place."

"What about the Silver Castle?" Rossi frowned.

Maeve looked at the file over Morgan's shoulder. "It says that it happened in La Plata County. La Plata is Spanish for silver."

"Garcia, you're up. The Cyrus case, give me the list of all women who got out of there alive," said Hotch.

"Will do, sir, coming to your screens right now."

They scanned the list and it was Rossi who got the first hit. "There! Lisa Mulgrew. If I remember correctly, Mulgrew was Cyrus' real name. Lisa can be a nickname for Elizabeth. Garcia, get us the photo."

When the picture appeared on the screen, there was a collective sigh. It was a hit. The face staring at them was a lot younger than the one on the board, but undoubtedly the same one. The records showed that Elizabeth Patson alias Lisa Mulgrew left eight months pregnant. That's why they couldn't get any hits from the previous searches – their files contained only Lisa Mulgrew, but the birth records of Mabel Anna Patson talked only about Elizabeth Patson.

"Okay, now we know pretty much everything there is to know, so we need to think of a way how to get Spence back without giving Mabel back to her psychotic mother," JJ concluded.

"You know, I remember how Prentiss and Reid talked about Jessica Evanson, the youngest wife," said Rossi slowly. "According to them she loved Cyrus enough to die for him. Maybe Elizabeth did too. I think he gave her shelter, made her feel loved, and he was quite charismatic. She must have been in love with him. Maybe we can manipulate those feelings, tell her that Anna had been claimed by her father and they are both waiting for her."

"She won't fall for that. She know Cyrus is dead," Blake shook her head.

"Besides, she has a new religious fanatic now," Morgan added.

"Maybe we can use him. If Colton Berenski talks, she will listen," Hotch suggested.

"He will never cooperate," Morgan rejected the idea. "He said outright that he supports her. I think he knows exactly what she's doing, only there's no way of proving it."

"So what?" JJ asked. "We bring her down?"

"We have to try to settle it peacefully," Hotch shook his head.

At this point Maeve walked out, unable to listen any more. She went to the computer room so she would be there when Joanna wakes up. The conversation was replaying in her head and she tried to put herself in Elizabeth's shoes. She imagined someone would take Joanna. What would stop her from getting her daughter back?

The answer came to her as easy as breathing. Death.

_She won't give Spencer back unless we give her Anna or unless she dies. We will not give her Anna. So to save Spencer, Elizabeth needs to die, _Maeve realized and was momentarily horrified by the thought. She was sitting there, her head clear, and she was considering the possibility of sacrificing a young woman's life.

"_You would kill yourself for her?" _Diane Turner's voice was burned in Maeve's memory forever. _You got the question wrong, girl, like everything else, _Maeve thought. _The real question is – would you sacrifice another life for his? Are you selfish enough to proclaim that his life is more important than somebody else's?_

It scared her. She never expected to be faced with those questions. She knew that it won't be her call in the end, but at the same time she was scared that the team won't decide in time. They were supposed to bring the criminals in alive. When it comes down to it, they might hesitate. After all they did hesitate when Diane held her and there was no guarantee it won't happen again. They might stop for too long and it could cost Spencer his life.

_I have to be there, _she realized. _I have to be there and make sure they don't. Make sure they bring him back safe, no matter the cost._

_Would you become a monster to save him? _The little voice in her head, asking her all the horrible questions sounded suspiciously like Diane Turner.

Maeve had always considered herself a good person. She wasn't exactly Mother Teresa, but then again, hardly anyone was. She tried to help people, that brought her and Spencer together after all. She played fair and always tried to find a compromise that would suit more or less everybody. The little everyday acts of kindness came naturally to her.

But the possibility of losing Spencer woke up a whole different side of Maeve Donovan, the one that had been stirring ever since Spencer disappeared. It was the Maeve that stared down Diane Turner on the roof, telling her that she will _not _jump and if she wants her dead, she better do it herself. That Maeve was determined to fight until the bitter end, to make the choices no one else can, to save the love of her life against all odds.

_Yes, _she realized. _If it means that Spencer comes back safe and sound, I would strangle her with my own hands. I am not saying that one life is more important than the other, but I **am **saying, that given a choice, I will always choose Spencer without hesitation. And I will make sure that when the moment comes, the team won't hesitate either._

_Does that make me a monster? _she asked herself as she looked at her sleeping daughter.

This answer was much more difficult, so Maeve settled for a simple solution this time.

_Maybe it does, but if that's what it takes to save him, so be it._


	7. Talking

**The grand finale, just in case anybody actually reads this.**

* * *

_I found out the way your mind works and the kind of man you are. I know your plans and expectations - you've burbled every bit of strategy you've got. I know exactly what you will do, and exactly what you won't, and I've told you exactly nothing. To these aged eyes, boy, that's what winning looks like! (James Goldman, The Lion in Winter)_

* * *

"All we need to do is to get her away from Spence," JJ said. They have been arguing the strategy for hours with no result. There just seemed to be no good outcome, no way to make Elizabeth surrender without anyone dying.

"Take me with you," begged Maeve. "Please, I will stay in the car, I promise, you won't even know I'm there, just take me with you."

"No." Hotch seemed very determined about this matter. "It's bad enough that we let you stay here. Spencer would never forgive us if we took you in the field."

"Besides," JJ added, looking pointedly at the baby Maeve was holding, "we won't ever put both Joanna's parents in danger."

"It's eight o'clock," Rossi glanced at his watch. "The message should come any moment."

"So we just try to convince her that we have Anna in the car, while we try to get a good shot?" Blake seemed less than impressed.

"We can't take an actual child out there," Hotch pinched the bridge of his nose.

At that moment Maeve's phone beeped. She had a text from Spencer with an address. Garcia's magic told them it's an old warehouse on the edge of Fredericksburg, rented by one of the members of the Children of Eden church.

The team cleared out, leaving Maeve standing there with Joanna in her arms, feeling absolutely miserable. She slowly walked to Garcia's office, put Joanna in her cot, thanking God that she was such a quiet baby, and pulled Spencer's old FBI jacket from her bag. She had her parents pack it too, just in case.

"Garcia, can you do me a favor? Look after Jo and if I don't come back, make sure she doesn't waste her life, okay?" she smiled.

"Where-where are you going?" Garcia stuttered.

"I can't just sit here. And I need one more thing. Can you do it for me?"

Garcia looked on the verge of tears. "What is it?" she asked shakily.

"Nothing hard," Maeve assured her. "Just a call."

* * *

Spencer Reid was a clever man and he figured out a long time ago that his chances of surviving this encounter are slim. He knew that his team would never trade a child for him, meaning that they will try to find another way out. That will probably result in a gunfight with him right in the middle of it.

Not looking good.

He felt absolutely calm and his brain was already listing all possible explanations why he doesn't feel fear. He even remembered Diane Turner's theory about spontaneous cell death after the mind makes the decision to die.

_But I don't want to die, _he realized. _I know I probably will, but I will fight for every second. Did Maeve feel like this when Diane held her?_

He let Lisa tie hands in front of his body with zip ties, lead him out of his room and out of the building. It took a while for his eyes to adjust to the bright light, but when they did, he saw his whole team, guns ready, waiting for them. They were in front of an old warehouse on what used to be a parking lot.

"Where is she?" Lisa yelled.

"She is in a car in the back. Release him and we'll take you to her," said Rossi.

"No! You are lying! I want to see her!" Spencer felt the barrel of the gun dig deeper in his temple. Lisa was much smaller than him, so he stood twisted in a very uncomfortable position. She seemed to realize it too.

"On your knees," she commanded. He obeyed and felt the gun pressed to the back of his head. Lisa must have been crouching behind him to be shielded from the guns.

Suddenly a shot echoed through the parking lot. The agents were looking at each other, trying to determine who did this, until Morgan shouted: "On the roof!"

"You didn't think I would come alone, would you?" Lisa taunted. "Don't try anything or Colton will stop you."

Spencer felt the blood draining from his face. _A sniper. She brought a sniper._

The next thing he saw was even worse – Maeve, dressed in an FBI jacket that was way too big for her, stood only a few steps behind the front line and was whispering something to Blake and Morgan.

_No. No! No no no no! What are you doing here? Who let you come? Aaron Hotchner, I am going to kill you or haunt you at the very least! Get her out of here! She doesn't have to see this!_

"Okay, okay, we are going to bring her here, just wait a moment," Rossi tried to play for time, but Spencer already saw this was not going to work.

"I told you to bring her at nine!" Lisa barked. "I know you don't believe I will kill him, but I will!"

_Oh they believe you all right, _Spencer thought.

"We know." Maeve's voice sounded calm and decisive as she walked right between Rossi and JJ into the open space between Lisa and the FBI. The agents missed their chance to stop her, the position she was in now... any sudden movement and Lisa could panic. "You remember me, don't you? My name is Maeve, you have been calling me. I will send Spencer a phone," she said, showing her the little box in her hand. "Elizabeth, is it okay?"

"Why?" Lisa seemed confused.

"Because the bedtime story he told our little one wasn't finished," she explained. "I know you will kill him, but I want him to tell my baby the rest of the story first."

Spencer didn't see, but Lisa must have nodded, because Maeve slid the phone across the asphalt and it stopped against Spencer's knee.

"Penelope is going to call you soon," Maeve said. "She is a funny one, weaving by day..."

_Unraveling by night... _Spencer remembered the Odyssey immediately. Penelope, the wife of Odysseus, was stalling her suitors by weaving a shroud during the day, but unraveling it during the night. The message was clear – tell a story. Buy us time.

He picked up the phone and it rang seconds later. He put it on speaker to make Lisa more invested in the conversation. She hadn't stopped him yet, that was a good sign.

"Hello?" he said.

"Hi, Reid." Garcia sounded really uncomfortable with the whole thing.

"Is the baby safe?" he asked.

"Yes, safe and sound and with me, listening to Papa."

He took a deep breath. _You are Scheherezade now – tell a story, save your life. _"Hey, kiddo. I told you about the king of the Silver Country and how his youngest queen saved him. But there was another queen, not so lucky. She was expecting a baby when the traitor took her. She later escaped and gave birth to a beautiful little princess. This queen loved her princess very much. She took her to a friendly kingdom, played with her every day and bought her pretty toys.

But the evil guards from Prince's country found them again and they were jealous because none of their princesses were as beautiful or as smart as this princess of the Silver Country. They took the princess away, even though the queen cried and begged them not to.

The queen was very brave and smart and she wasn't going to give up. She found the old traitor and wanted to trade him for her princess. It was more than a fair trade, to exchange someone as worthless as the traitor for someone as perfect as the little princess."

It was time to stray from the fairytale and Spencer knew that it could cost him his life. It also might help him get into Lisa's head. Besides, there were things he needed to say in case something bad happens in the next few minutes.

"What the queen didn't know was that the traitor had married a beautiful queen too and had his own princess. And even though he was just a worthless evil traitor, he loved his wife and daughter very much. They were the very best thing that he had ever had. There were days when he woke up and couldn't understand how a traitor like him ended up with such a perfect queen and even more perfect princess. He had seen some dark things and did some dark things too, but the bad memories seemed to hide when his queen smiled."

Spencer paused. He saw Maeve smiling at him through the tears. _Don't cry, _he wanted to tell her and he knew that she would answer: _You are crying too._

"So what happened next?" asked Garcia on the phone.

"The story isn't over yet," said Spencer. "I don't know what the queen will do. But whatever it is, make sure that the princess from the Silver Country knows that her mother loves her very much." He sighed and added: "And you can tell the traitor's princess that her Papa loves her too."

Lisa reached over his shoulder and hung up.

"I can't let you go," she whispered. She sounded like she was crying too. "Not until I have Anna."

"Her grandmother calls her Mabel," Maeve said to keep the conversation flowing.

"It's the name Cyrus wanted to give her," Lisa sobbed. "I always wanted her to be Anna."

"I can see that he meant a lot to you. Colton... he talks a little bit like him, but it doesn't feel right, does it?" Maeve was manipulating her like an experienced profiler.

"No, it does," said Lisa quickly. Too quickly.

"You don't have to pretend anymore, Elizabeth. I understand you," Maeve smiled, but Spencer saw the quick glance she cast at the roof of the warehouse.

"You do?"

He felt almost sorry for the girl. In many ways she was just a confused kid, who had a knack for picking the wrong guy and making all the wrong decisions. The worst of them was to go up against the team that hunted serial killers for living and was aided by Maeve Donovan.

Maeve's smile disappeared and a kind, understanding mother turned into a goddess of vengeance. "No. I don't understand a woman who doesn't come to see her daughter for three months just because she found a new boy toy." She made a step towards them. "I don't know how can a woman make grand statements about the meaning of family and separate a father from his little girl just to get her way."

"Stop right there!" Lisa shouted.

"And most of all," Maeve took another step, "I have no idea how a woman can leave her child crying for days and still call herself a mother."

She seemed unstoppable, like Nemesis, like a Fury coming for Orestes, but Spencer was waiting for the gunshot, for Maeve falling down, for the blood and the inevitable pain. Apparently Lisa was too because she made no real attempt to stop Maeve.

"Don't move!"

"Or what?" Spencer had never seen Maeve so sure of herself. And so full of hatred. He had no idea that his sweet girlfriend was capable of the expression she had now – cold, stone mask with absolutely no mercy behind it.

"He will shoot you!"

"Who will?"

Spencer felt Lisa turn to look at the roof and dared to sneak a peek too. Morgan was standing there, provocatively waving at them, while two other agents handcuffed Lisa's sniper.

At the same time, only much closer, just behind his back, Blake said: "Make a move, girl. I dare you."

Spencer felt Lisa's grip on him loosening and let his instincts take over. He curled in a ball and rolled to the side. When he looked up, Blake was already tossing Lisa's gun away and someone else was bringing the handcuffs.

"Are you okay, Spence?"

JJ was standing right behind him with a worried look.

"Yes, I'm fine," he replied. "Can you please tell me who let Maeve come here and while you're at it, give me my gun back. I need to shoot my Unit Chief."

"I think she let herself," JJ smiled and untied his hands. "You can chew her out after Hotch is done with her," she pointed to where Hotch and Rossi seemed to be taking turns in yelling at Maeve, who listened with a very unconvincing sheepish expression.

"Okay, how did Morgan get there?" he pointed at the roof. "I saw him down here, talking to Maeve... Oh crap!"

"When Maeve saw the sniper, she asked Garcia to send her the plans of that warehouse and she found another way in." Blake joined them. "She showed me and Morgan and we were able to sneak up at them."

Spencer was still confused. "Why you?"

"Don't know," Blake shrugged. "I guess we were the most likely to be rebellious. But it wouldn't have worked if you hadn't distracted her with the story, Scheherezade."

"You're welcome. Excuse me for a moment," he muttered and walked to the group consisting of Maeve, Rossi, Morgan, and Hotch.

"We should arrest you for this!" Hotch was saying. "This is an unprecedented..."

"Come on," Morgan was apparently taking Maeve's side. "It's a good thing she did it."

"No, it's the most reckless, stupid, irresponsible..." Rossi seemed to run out of the words to describe Maeve's actions.

"Idiotic," Spencer supplied.

They all turned to him and he saw the relief in their eyes. He smiled at them, trying to tell them that he was fine, and turned to Maeve.

"You are impossible," he told her.

"I think you mean improbable," she corrected him.

"No, I mean impossible. Impossible to deal with. You are a nightmare, woman!"

"I saved your life!"

"You came this close to making Joanna an orphan!"

"But I saved your life."

"Do you know how much paperwork I will have to fill out because of this? You can get the whole team suspended!"

"I did save your life, you know."

"And leaving Joanna with Garcia? Do you know how terrified she must be right now?"

"I think she's too young..."

"I'm talking about Garcia! Is there anyone in the five miles radius whom you didn't piss off or scared to death or both?"

"Look here, Mr. Righteous," Maeve yelled back, "you just got the taste of your own medicine. I listened to you telling a psycho with a gun to shoot you instead of me. What I did was pretty mild compared to that. This was the only viable plan because we were the only people who could distract Elizabeth for long enough to let Morgan and Blake do their work. They wouldn't let me, so I didn't ask."

"And you didn't see the hundred things that could go wrong? Or did you just hope to be lucky?"

He didn't give her the time to answer and just pulled her into a kiss instead. He poured all his anger, all his relief and fear and remaining adrenalin into it. She was taken by surprise at first, but she returned his kiss with the same passion. He lifted her off her feet and she held on to him like he was the only thing that held her tethered to the ground. All the tension seemed to disappear when he took a deep breath and his nose was flooded with the smell of jasmine. It still did the strangest things to his body, but it didn't scare him any more.

Unfortunately he couldn't hold her forever. He let her go, ignoring Morgan's wolf-whistle, and looked deep into her eyes.

"Next time, consider every outcome and if there is one, just one, that includes you getting hurt, don't do it," he told her.

"I did consider every outcome!" Maeve did her best to sound offended.

He laughed and hugged her with one hand. Together they slowly walked to the cars. After a few steps Maeve very quietly muttered:

"The sniper was a surprise."


	8. Doubting

**How did the events of this story affect Spencer? He is reunited with his family and nobody got hurt, but is that enough? Read, find out and review! This is the last chapter, but I have a special epilogue ready to be posted soon. Thank you for reading and enjoy the chapter.**

* * *

_And so you see I have come to doubt_

_All that I once held as true_

_I stand alone without beliefs_

_The only truth I know is you_

_(Paul Simon, Kathy's Song)_

* * *

From the warehouse they headed straight to the BAU Headquarters. Spencer wanted to hold the door for the others as they entered the office, but he was almost swept off his feet by something blond with a blue ribbon.

"Don't you ever, ever do that to me again!" Garcia complained. "That goes for both of you! I had to listen to the whole thing! I can never unhear it! I was there alone and with a baby and you made me _listen_!"

Spencer hugged her and he could feel her shaking.

"I promise to never tell you a fairytale again," he said.

"Garcia, where is Joanna?" Maeve asked.

Garcia pointed over her shoulder, where they saw agent Anderson holding a child as far from him as possible, like she was going to bite him. He gave the team a desperate look.

"I think she needs a diaper change."

"I will do it," Spencer said quickly. He desperately needed to hold Joanna. Besides, he still wasn't sure that he wasn't dreaming about a happy ending and nothing said real like a diaper change.

After he was done and very sure that he was truly back with his daughter, Maeve took Joanna to feed her. The team had scattered and Spencer had a few moments just for himself.

He sighed and looked around. He walked to his desk and ran his hand across all those little things that he accumulated there over the years. This place was almost like a second home, but right now it didn't feel that way. His job was the reason he got into this mess in the first place. His job almost cost Joanna her father.

There wasn't one person on the team that hadn't been hospitalized at some point. Elle and Emily almost bled out to death. Gideon's girlfriend and Hotch's wife were murdered. JJ's husband was kidnapped. Morgan once drove a bomb halfway across the city and got out seconds before it blew up. Even Garcia was shot. Spencer himself was kidnapped, tortured, shot, infected with a deadly disease... Their job kept proving them that they are never safe.

Maybe it was time for a change.

When Maeve came back, he was decided. He opened the top drawer of his desk and reached for a small box he had there for a few weeks, waiting for the right moment.

"Give Joanna to JJ for a moment," he told Maeve.

Maeve frowned, but handed her daughter to JJ. When Spencer got down on one knee and opened the box, she understood.

"I just remembered that I haven't properly proposed to you. Maeve Donovan, will you marry me?"

She laughed and nodded. "I will. I didn't stall a psychotic kidnapper just to back out now."

* * *

It was almost midnight, Joanna was sleeping and Maeve was curled up in Spencer's arms. She was enjoying his warmth, the feeling of his soft skin under her fingers, and the memory of his lips on hers.

"I think I will quit at the BAU," he said suddenly.

"Why?" Maeve was confused.

"I can do anything else with my life. Professors at Caltech have much higher life expectancy than FBI agents and they don't get kidnapped nearly as often. I don't want you to tremble with fear every time I'm ten minutes late from work. I don't want Joanna to know only my picture," he said.

Maeve turned so that she could see his face. "You don't like your job any more?"

"That's not it..."

"So if you like your job, keep doing it. No, listen to me for a moment. I hate your job. I hate pausing every time one of your friends calls me, wondering if they're going to tell me you're not coming home. I hate that every time you walk out of the door, I know it might be the last time I see you.

But what you do is important and nobody knows this better than I do. I have been a victim and I have been the victim's family, and I each time I could only thank God it was your team, who worked the case. They saved you, they saved the little girl from her crazy mom. You saved me. Your team gives people back to their families. Someone has to be doing this and that someone will always have someone else who worries about him or her.

I agreed to marry you knowing that you are doing something that is dangerous, but it is important and it matters to you. Do I hate that you put your life in danger? Hell yeah. Do I want a husband who does something that lets him be on time for dinner every day? Of course. Do I want you to quit your job? Only if you don't like doing it any more."

Spencer looked at her, wondering once again how did this woman end up with him. "I love you," he told her.

"I love you too," she snuggled next to him. "Does this mean that you keep your job?"

"I need to think about it."

* * *

A few days later Hotch found Spencer in his office. The genius looked just as nervous as the day Joanna was born and he was holding an envelope.

"What do you need?" Hotch asked, sitting behind his desk.

"This," Spencer held up the envelope, "is my resignation letter. I just don't know if I should give it to you or not."

"Sit down," Hotch gestured to an empty chair. "Is this about the Elizabeth Patson business?"

"Yes. I mean, this time it was a happy ending, but what if I die next time? What if they take Maeve again? Or Jo? I think that maybe I should leave before it comes to that. I have three PhD's, there must be something else for me to do out there," he smiled weakly.

Hotch sighed. Spencer and Maeve had to have the worst luck of all the people he knew. The number of things that happened to Spencer was high even for an FBI agent. He had been expecting something like this since Diane Turner. And now, with the baby, it was only a matter of time. After Elizabeth took him, it was a matter of weeks.

"I can't say I blame you. I wonder every day... if I had quit when she asked me to, would Haley still be alive? If you decide to give me that letter, I will not try to convince you to stay."

"That's just it. I don't know. I hate not knowing. I think about all those people we help and I think I have to stay and help more. I think about Maeve standing there five steps from an unsub with a gun and I want to take my family and hide in the furthest corner of Greenland!" Spencer exclaimed.

"You know what?" Hotch suggested. "Take a break. Go home for as long as you need, figure this out and come back when you're ready. With or without that letter."

"Okay," Spencer agreed and put the letter back in his messenger bag.

"Hey, guys," Garcia poked her head in the office, "we got another one. Somebody is garroting women in South Dakota."

"I'll be there in a minute," Hotch promised and turned back to Spencer. "You know how to find us."

* * *

"It's weird, not having Spence around," said JJ and put a picture of another victim on the board. "I mean, do you think he'll ever come back?"

"I don't know," replied Blake. "Maybe he shouldn't."

"It makes me feel like a horrible mother," JJ sighed. "Like I don't love my family enough to quit for them."

"Drop it, you two," Hotch barked from his spot at the unsub board.

Blake rolled her eyes. This case was a nightmare. Not in the professional sense, they have seen both more sadistic and more complicated cases. But the whole team was on edge. Hotch turned his drill sergeant persona up to eleven, Morgan already almost got himself shot, JJ looked like she was ready to quit too, Rossi barely talked at all, and Garcia was answering the calls with plain Hello, which must have been unprecedented. Blake herself knew that there was a pattern somewhere, but the only thing she could think about was _Reid would have seen it ages ago._

They were instinctively leaving an empty space where Reid would sit. When Hotch was handing out tasks, he assigned one to Reid before realizing he wasn't there, only to do it again two hours later. Garcia admitted that by mistake she sent half of the messages for the team to Reid as well. Blake herself asked for the geographical profile before she realized nobody was working on it.

_This is going to be tough, _Blake realized.

* * *

Spencer mowed half of the lawn, washed the dishes except the spoons, answered every third question Maeve asked him and hung a new picture in Joanna's room, hitting his own fingers just as often as the nail. The only thing he did with any kind of focus was checking his phone every time a text message came. He would read it and stare into the distance, thinking.

Maeve was following him around all day. She decided that the lawn can wait, washed the spoons, asked him every question three times and stopped to watch him every time his phone beeped.

After lunch he went online to look for open positions, but he just stared at the screen, not really reading anything. He sat like this for an hour before Maeve's patience ran out. She took his messenger bag and dropped it in his lap, making him jump.

He looked at her like a guilty puppy. "I tried," he said quietly.

"I know. Go," she jerked her head towards the door.

* * *

"This doesn't fit," Rossi banged his hand on the table. "There was no sexual assault, this doesn't make any sense!"

"There was the strangulation," Morgan pointed out. He spoke calmly, but they could all see how much effort it took.

"It's not enough," Rossi shook his head. "I'm telling you, we have the wrong guy!"

"For some unsubs the strangulation is a replacement for sex," Hotch argued.

"Bullshit," Rossi growled.

"Hey, calm down! We have the warrant, we are coming for him!" Morgan shouted.

"Actually, you do have the wrong guy," said a familiar voice at the door.

Spencer stood in the doorway, watching the boards with slightly annoyed expression. After a minute he marched to the nearest board and took a marker.

"Did you even look at the dump sites? A junkyard, a pig's pen, back alley among the trashcans... These were all successful women, intelligent, beautiful and he treated them like garbage. Of course there was no sign of sexual assault because this was never about sex, not directly. Look... Why are you all staring at me like I'm Santa Claus?"


	9. Epilogue

**They say every good story ends with a wedding and I am happy that mine does too. I loved writing this fic, especially Maeve, who is a wasted opportunity if I ever saw one. I hope you liked it too. Let's end this with the cheesiest epilogue of all times.**

* * *

_You shall neither have wife, nor bind any woman to you in troth, until your time comes and you are found worthy of it. (J.R. , Lord of the Rings)_

* * *

Spencer couldn't be more grateful that Rossi, Blake and JJ took charge and organized his wedding for him. He and Maeve did give them limits and they had veto on every detail, but their three friends did most of the hard work.

_And they did a good job,_ Spencer thought as he looked at Rossi's garden, the same place JJ and Will got married at. It looked very similar, but there were a few more people. Maeve's family, for example, her parents and a few cousins. Both Spencer's parents came and of course the whole team. JJ and Blake were nowhere in sight, they were probably with Maeve and her mother, getting the bride ready.

Spencer checked that Morgan, his best man, had the rings, and was told that he's showing some obsessive symptoms. He wanted to go and check something else, but stopped when he saw a familiar face in the crowd.

"Emily!"

"Hey, Reid! How are you?" Prentiss pulled him in a hug. "I'm sorry, the plane was late, otherwise I would have been here sooner."

"I didn't know you were coming," Spencer smiled widely.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world! I can't wait to meet the girl who is mad enough to marry Spencer Reid!" Prentiss clapped him on the shoulder. "Is the baby going to be here?" she craned her neck to see if she can spot Joanna.

"Yes, she is with the ladies upstairs. JJ and Blake promised to look after her during the service. What are you doing here?"

"She is one of my wedding gifts," said Rossi.

"What is the other?" Spencer asked.

"I think that would be me, right?" A woman with short dark hair came up to him. "Good to see you again!"

Spencer stared incredulously at Elle Greenaway standing right in front of him, grinning widely. A man with a boy who had to be about two years old stood right behind her and even though she was wearing a loose dress, she couldn't hide the fact that another kid was on the way.

"You look like you've seen a ghost. C'mon, you knew I was alive and well," Elle laughed. "This is my husband Marc and our son Alex."

"Pleased to meet you," Spencer nodded to Elle's husband before turning back to her. "I just didn't expect to see you... ever again, actually." He hugged her. "Thanks for coming."

"When Hotch called, I couldn't say no. Besides, he told me that you have a baby and there's no way I'd miss seeing you as a dad. Hi, JJ, Hotch!"

JJ greeted Elle and turned to Rossi. "We are ready."

"Not yet," Rossi shook his head. "Our guest of honor isn't here yet."

"He is," said Hotch and looked somewhere over Spencer's shoulder.

Spencer turned around and saw Jason Gideon standing there with that little wistful smile of his, looking like he never left.

"I thought you disappeared without a trace," Spencer folded his arms over his chest, glaring at his mentor.

"I left Aaron a way to contact me," Gideon smiled.

Hotch showed them a little card with a phone number and a short note: _In case of a funeral or a wedding. G._

"You didn't show up for JJ's wedding," Spencer accused him.

"No, I didn't. The message didn't reach me in time and I am deeply sorry for my absence," he turned to the woman in question, but JJ was too busy for apologies.

"So that's everybody, right?" she asked Rossi. "Good. Can we start now?"

"Why are you so stressed?" Spencer frowned. "It's my wedding, isn't it?"

"You," JJ pointed to him, "there," she pointed to an arch of flowers where the big event was supposed to take place, "no comments."

"When did she become so bossy?" Elle shook her head.

"It's dealing with this lot for the better part of ten years," Emily said. "Maybe it's a good thing we left."

"You two," JJ lifted her finger menacingly, "to your seats. Now."

Rossi leaned to Spencer and whispered in his ear: "I liked her better when she was the bride."

But JJ hadn't been a media liaison for nothing and she got everyone in place in five minutes. The service went without a glitch, if you don't count Joanna, who chose the exact moment of her parents exchanging vows to start screaming. The women in charge of the baby had a short whispered argument about who will take her away because nobody wanted to miss anything. Luckily one of Maeve's cousins volunteered when she saw that JJ and Blake were seconds from pulling out guns.

Garcia was sobbing into Blake's tissue, JJ was clutching Will's arm like she was watching a suspense movie while looking incredibly proud, Emily and Elle, who bonded fast, were whispering and giggling, and Rossi shushed them. Hotch, who came with Beth, seemed to be busy keeping Jack in his place and Morgan almost lost the rings, which earned him a reproachful look from Spencer. Gideon just sat back and smiled like he had been expecting something like this for years. Given his reputation as a genius profiler, it might have been true.

The service turned into a dinner and the dinner turned into a party. About halfway through Gideon found himself standing in a quiet corner with Rossi. The men clinked their glasses and watched the crowd for a moment.

"He came a long way, didn't he?" Gideon said.

"You know what they say. _Every good story ends with a wedding,_" quoted Rossi.

"I hope it's not true," said Gideon quietly. "I hope this is a beginning."

They both watched Spencer laugh at something Morgan said and Maeve slap Morgan's arm, trying her best to look offended. The newlyweds looked like a textbook image of happiness and so did the family around them. Elle was having a heated discussion with Will, Garcia was teaching Mrs. Reid some silly dance, Emily was gushing over Joanna, and Blake and JJ were playing volleyball with one of the balloons.

"We could never do it," said Gideon, gesturing towards the couple. "Have a normal life, normal marriage. Do you think he can?"

Rossi looked at Maeve, who seemed to be teaching Hotch how to dance rock'n'roll,

"I think she won't let him have anything less than a perfect life."

**THE END**


End file.
